Has anyone used AtlasOS?

atlasos.net An optimized modification of Windows, designed for gamers.

We designed Atlas to maximize performance and minimize latency. Experience higher framerates and lower latency compared to stock, slow Windows.

This is really intriguing, but am I reading the instructions correctly? Call me dumb, but I don't know how to reinstall Win10 Home; I don't have a recovery CD or anything like that. I'd also need to back up everything first... which would be a pain...

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This is really cool and I'm glad it exists for those stuck on Windows for certain games. That said, I'd still highly encourage anyone interested to give Linux a shot. I ran it as my daily driver for years about a decade ago, but finally switched back to Windows because I was spending too much time trying to get my games to work. I finally got fed up with Windows 11 and moved back last year. Holy hell has gaming on Linux come a long way with Proton. Everything I've thrown at it has worked flawlessly, and runs at least as fast as they did on Windows.
That said, I get that not everyone wants such a paradigm shift or to learn a new tech just to play their games. In the interim of not running Linux on my desktop, I still worked with Linux servers and used the Windows Linux Subsystem, so I get that I'm a little biased in how easy the switch was. You can find distros that are very beginner-friendly, however, or even specifically gaming-oriented.
But yeah, for those stuck on Windows due to games with pervasive anti-cheat or whatever, I get that AtlasOS could be a gamechanger.
Thank you for coming to me Ted Talk.
- I admin linux systems all day at work, and in my spare time on my home lab rackmount setup that lives in the spare bathroom, and I say that to make clear that I'm extremely comfortable with Linux. I got a gaming laptop recently and loaded Ubuntu onto it, and was very underwhelmed with the gaming performance on it. My SteamDeck ran many of the games better, and there were a bunch issues with the OS not being able to keep the integrated graphics card vs the discrete one straight (e.g. switching the load order on reboot, making games constantly try to run on the integrated card), that just made me eventually give up and put Win11 on it. At this point, I'd love for Valve to release a "SteamLap" gaming system, because clearly Linux needs that tight control over the hardware config to get games working well.
  
  Well that's unfortunate. I guess different hardware and configs can really make all the difference. In my case I'm using a desktop with no integrated graphics at all, so no chance of that particular problem happening. This build is all-AMD and using Wayland.
  I've only had two small issues thus far, across the dozen or so games I've tried on this setup. Both were very easy to fix, though one is worth mentioning as it's loosely similar to yours: in Valheim literally every time I started the game it'd default to the wrong audio output and I'd have to manually switch it back.
  Sorry to hear about your own bad experience. Given the rate at which the desktop ecosystem keeps improving, however, and marketshare creeps up, I'm sure in a few more years it might be worth giving it another shot with your setup.
  
  Yeah, it was frustrating because using Ubuntu for gaming on it was the main reason I got the laptop, but I couldn't deal with changing launch options in steam every time I rebooted. Hasn't soured me on Linux gaming, still hoping for that bright future. :)
  
  I definitely see how that'd be an annoyance. Glad it hasn't soured you long-term on it though.
- I had a very similar experience but just kinda glumly stuck with the broken experience in that in between, and just played what I could get to work. But now with proton, specifically the ge version, there's isn't a game that I can't play (that I have wanted to play). It's pretty amazing how quickly the changes and improvements to gaming on Linux have come.
  I also have an AMD system now, which might be a big part of why it's so painless now.
  
  Yeah, I think AMD makes a huge difference there. My old Nvidia card had all sorts of issues with screen tearing, but my current rig worked flawlessly under Wayland with no tweaking necessary.

30 comments